1 The regional context
Banskobystický kray (hereinafter Banská Bystrica) is situated in Stredné Slovensko (hereinafter Central Slovakia) next to the Hungarian border of the country. Since the reform of territorial administration in 1996 the NUTS3 unit also forms a government unit named “kraj” (region), which is the highest-level administrative unit in the Slovak Republic. Banská Bystrica and its north neighbour Žilinský kraj (hereinafter Žilina) together constitute Central Slovakia NUTS2 statistical region. As a result of its central position within Slovakia Banská Bystrica has several neighbours. Beside Žilina it is contiguous to Trenčiansky kraj, (hereinafter Trenčín) Nitransky kray (hereinafter Ni-tra), Prešovský kraj (hereinafter Prešov) and Košický kraj (hereinafter Košice). Origi-nally Banská Bystricawas only established in 1923; however, the traditional economic profile and history of the area still have their influence on the present social and eco-nomic conditions of the region.
Map 1: Banská Bystrica in the context of the ESPON space
2 The economic profile of Banská Bystrica has always been determined by primary and extractive industries such as forestry and logging, mining or manufacturing non-metallic mineral products (cement etc.). In the socialist era Slovakia came close to the economic development level of Czech Republic (within the common state, Czechoslovakia) due to the great investments of the socialist industry. However, it could not become the lasting mover of the economy as heavy and modern industry was lacking in strong roots in the area, causing structural disproportions with their negative effects. After the political change of regime and with the socio-economic transition of the early nineties Banská Bystrica – along with several other regions of Slovakia – got into a deep structural crisis. Traditional economic branches in the area like mining and agriculture lost importance while branches of socialist industry col-lapsed, causing the high rise of unemployment. Banská Bystrica nowadays is still one of the Slovak regions affected by unemployment and the southern part of the region (Rimavská Sobota and its surroundings) is said to be one of the poorest areas of the country.
The position of the region, its geographical characteristics and the potential connec-tions with other areas also influence the socio-economic factors of Banská Bystrica. It can be demonstrated through the presentation of some ESPON CU regional typolo-gies. As being situated in the middle of the continental Europe Banská Bystrica is not covered by the classification of the coastal or the island typology. Similarly to all other regions of Slovakia Banská Bystrica is also contiguous to other countries. The Slo-vakian-Hungarian border is an internal border of the EU and as other borders, it can be traversed without limitations. At the same time the potential connections between these contiguous parts of Slovakia and Hungary are under-utilized, with the excep-tions of the vicinity of the largest urban centres The“border-effect” yet seems to gen-erate here more disadvantages than advantages. However, in addition to border-effect, two other characteristics of the region might generate relative detriments: on the one hand, Banská Bystrica is situated quite far from the biggest economic cen-tres of the country (Bratislava in the west, Košice and Prešov in the east), while ten-sions stemming from the high rate of inhabitants belonging to the Hungarian or Roma minority, on the other. The latter, as well as that of the closeness of the border could be exploited for mutual benefits of both sides, that happens time-to-time in a number of fields, but large infrastructural investments, particularly in relation to development of road and rail networks as well as industrial regeneration are yet to be brought about.
3 Table 1: Different ESPON CU typologies of Banská Bystrica, 2009
Coastal typology Area not covered by classification Island typology Not an island region
Metropolitan typology Not a metropolitan region Border typology Internal border region
Mountain typology Predominantly mountaionus region, close to a city Industrial transition typology Region with industrial branches losing importance Urban-rural typology Predominantly rural region, close to a city
Source: ESPON CU
The accessibility of Banská Bystrica, the settlement structure and many factors of economic activity of the region are highly influenced by its geographical characteris-tics. The region is a predominantly mountainous area. There are several mountain ranges in Banská Bystrica such as the Low Tatras in the north, Kremnica Mountains, Vtáčnik and Štiavnica Mountains in the west and the Slovak Ore Mountains which are situated in the central and eastern part of the region. The mountains of Banská Bystrica were once the main sources of European gold and other rare metal ores and later e.g. in the 19th century mining was still a traditional and dominant economic ac-tivity in the area, but now the formerly prospering mining towns are in decay.
Map 2: Corine land cover typology of Banská Bystrica, 2006
4 Beside materials for mining, mountains can provide various natural resources for economic activities, so Banská Bystrica is an ideal land for forestry. The wood cover-age in Slovakia is above 40%, and as the central regions of the country are prevail-ingly mountainous, this ratio is even higher in Banská Bystrica. The most elevated mountains in the north are rising to 2000 metres and they are covered with conifer-ous forests,while the lower mountains in the other parts of the region are mainly cov-ered with mixed and broad-leaved forests. Beside this type of vegetation the more intensive forms of agricultural activity(arable land for stock-raising and plant growing) are only possible on lower reliefs like wider river valleys (Hron, Ipeľ or Rimava) and basins (Southern Slovak Basin). These areas are also the locations of bigger settle-ments with continuous urban fabric.
Banská Bystrica is not a metropolitan region according to ESPON typologies. Its population is above 650 thousand inhabitants which is average among the regions of Slovakia, but the area is a predominantly rural region, though close to a city. The most populated settlement in the area is Banská Bystrica, the seat of the region, which is the 6th biggest town in Slovakia with its population of 80 thousand inhabit-ants. Other notable towns are Zvolen (43 thousand inhabitants), Lučenec (28 sand inhabitants), Rimavská Sobota (24 thousand inhabitants) and Brezno (22 thou-sand inhabitants). With the loosing importance of traditional (logging, mining) and socialist industrial branches these settlements nowadays are mostly administrative and service centres, which – due to their rich cultural heritage (especially Banská Bystrica and Zvolen) – are also frequented targets of tourism. The mountainous character of the region provides good possibilities for mountain tourism too: the most frequented Slovakian ski resorts are also located in Banská Bystrica (or closeby).
One of the unfavourable consequences of mountainous character of Banská Bystrica is the bad accessibility of the region. However the area is situated geographically in the middle part of Slovakia, simultaneously it is a remote region in relation to other parts of the country. The (mountainous) physical relief limits the access of the re-gion;only some river valleys provide enough space for main routes traversing higher mountains which separates Banská Bystrica from the neighbouring regions. That also limits intraregional circulation possibilities as – depending on the characteristics of geographical relief –longitudinal or transversal route connections can be lacking.
The main routes in the region cross each other in Zvolen: the one from south to north is an important linkage between South and North Slovakia (and also constitutes the most direct connection between Hungary and Poland); the other from west to east is the part of main transversal route between the western and the eastern parts of the country (and also between the two big cities, Bratislava and Košice).This latter versal route in Slovakia is otherwise less significant than the other (northern) trans-versal one, situated between the Low and the High Tatras. The only motorway of the region links Banská Bystrica and Zvolen and it is continued towards the western part of Slovakia, making the linkage between Banská Bystrica and Bratislava, the capital city of the country. The accessibility situation of the region is potentially improvable because there is an airport with international flights in the area, in Sliač (between Banská Bystrica and Zvolen).
The area of Banská Bystrica (9,500 km2) is far the biggest among the Slovak regions, while it is moderately populated due to (among others) the mountainous character of
5 the NUTS3 unit. Therefore, the population density of the region is the lowest within the country. Despite its unfavourable economic characteristics, the region has not had to face with significant outmigration and population loss in the past decades. Its population is constantly above 650 thousand inhabitants and the major towns hold the number of their inhabitants for years. Only the seat of the region, Banská Bystrica has suffered notable population loss in the past ten years (~5,000 persons); however this phenomenon is related more to suburbanization rather than to outmigration or natural population loss.
Table 2: Demographic and labour market characteristics Banská
1. Eurostat Database, Regional Statistics (Reg) Table [demo_r_pjanaggr3]
2. Eurostat Database, Regional Statistics (Reg) Table [demo_r_d3dens]
3. Eurostat Database, Regional Statistics (Reg) Table [lfst_r_lfp3pop]; SO SR, Regional Statistics Database 4. Eurostat Database, Regional Statistics (Reg) Table [lfst_r_lfp3pop, lfst_r_lfu3pers]; SO SR, Regional Statistics
Database
5. Eurostat Database, Regional Statistics (Reg) Table [lfst_r_lfu3pers]; SO SR, Regional Statistics Database 6. Eurostat Database, Regional Statistics (Reg) Table [lfst_r_lfu2ltu]
* East European New Member States of the European Union (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria)
Moreover, the number of live birth increases again year by year in the region and the actual value of it is close to that of mid-nineties. Despite this tendency the demo-graphic structure of Banská Bystrica is quite unbalanced. The ratio of young age groups (aged <15) is lower than the Slovakian average and it is significantly lower than that of the Žilina. At the same time the ratio of elderly people (aged 65+) in the area is quite high as compared to other Slovakian regions. Consequently, the propor-tion of the actual and the potential working age groups is relatively low underpinning some unfavourable labour market characteristics in the region.
Beside these demographical characteristics labour market conditions of Banská By-strica compose another factor of the generally unfavourable social situation in the region. Activity rates of the area can be described as average in rural Slovakia: the higher country average of regional activity rates is pushed by Bratislava and West Slovakia. The labour market disorders, however, can be better illustrated by
em-6 ployment and unemployment rates of the area. The employment rate is notably lower both in Banská Bystrica and the Central Slovakian NUTS2 unit than in Slovakia itself, not reaching even 50%, and much lower in case of the former one. Unemployment figures show that nowadays Banská Bystrica is among the most badly affected re-gions in Slovakia where – in contrast with the similarly disadvantaged East Slovakian regions no significant decrease of unemployment rates has been taken place recent-ly. Long-term unemployment rates are quite high in the wider region (Central Slo-vakia) that also underpins the labour market problems of structural origin in the area.
The economic performance of Banská Bystrica is the lowest (beside that of Prešov) among the NUTS3 units in Slovakia. The total GDP volume of the region does not reach the 10% of Slovakian GDP, while its share of population is above 12%. It also means that the 8500 € per capita GDP of Banská Bystrica reaching only the 75% of the country average is the second lowest followed by Prešov (6,800 € per inhabitant).
However, these figures are not so bad in international comparison. It is true that the GDP per inhabitant value of the region in percentage of the EU average is only 36%, but it is higher than the average relative economic performance of the East European new member states of the European Union. Thus the per capita GDP of Banská By-stricais well ahead of the disadvantaged regions of Bulgaria, Romania, Poland or
Millions of euro 5540 12529 62794 853588 11751419
Euro per inhabitant 8500 9300 11600 8350 23500
Euro per inhabitant in percentage of the
EU average 36.0 39.0 49.0 35.5 100
Source: Eurostat Database, Regional Statistics (Reg) Table [nama_r_e3gdp]
Considering the long-term development of economic performance of the Slovakian (NUTS3) regions, Banská Bystricais among the stagnating or the lagging ones. The economic development and the catching up (e.g. to the European average GDP per inhabitant value) of Slovakian regions were almost continuous in the past decades, but in this process the growth rate of Banská Bystrica lagged behind several others.
Some regions in Slovakia had originally better positions for economic development, like Bratislava with its great economic weight and functional diversity or Trnava which is close both to the capital city of Slovakia and the western borders of the country.
However, many others (Nitra, Žilina Trenčín, Košice)with previously similar starting positions in relative economic performance than Banská Bystrica, have managed to catch up to the ranks of prosperous regions in the last two decades due to (for ex-ample) their successful industrial transition.
7 Table 4: Economic activity by sector (%), 2009
NACE Rev. 2 Category
Source: Eurostat Database, Regional Statistics (Reg) Table [nama_r_e3em95r2]
Regarding the sectorial distribution of economic activity industry (manufacturing) (NACE B-E), wholesale, retail, transport, accommodation etc. services (NACE G-I) and public administration, education, health etc. (NACE O-Q) dominate in Banská Bystrica. However, it is almost the same situation in other regions in East Europe. It is more expressive to see the deviance of sectorial employment ratios considering Banská Bystrica, Slovakia and the EU27. The share of agriculture and forestry is yet rather high in the region due to the exploitation of the extended forests in the area, whilst the role of public services (administration, health, education etc.) in employ-ment is much higher than the country or the European Union average. In contrast, the share of industrial sectors as well as that of the creative sectors (information, communication, finance, real estate, and science etc. – NACE J-N) are relatively low in Banská Bystrica, whilst the role of personal services in employment reaches the same level as of Slovakia or the EU27.
8 Table 5: Gross value added by sector and per head, 2009
Banská
NACE Rev. 2 Category GVA per head of working age
population (thousand €) Share of GVA by sector (%) A Agriculture, Source: Eurostat Database, Regional Statistics (Reg) Table [nama_r_e3vab95r2]
The figures of economic activity by sectors confirm the assertion about the economic structural problems of Banská Bystrica. The weight of those sectors which have the highest share in employment is also the biggest in the gross value added of econom-ic production but unfortunately these are also the least productive sectors. GVA per head of working age population is quite low in the sectors of public and personal ser-vices in the region and it is even lower regarding industry – in comparison with the national average. The productivity of the agricultural activity (mainly forestry) and creative sectors is at average in country comparison or higher, these industries con-tribute much more to the economic production of the region than their share in secto-rial employment ratios.
9 Table 6: Different poverty measures, 2011
Banskobys -trický kraj (SK032)
Stredné Slovensko
(SK03) Slovakia EU27
At-risk-of-poverty rate, %1 15.3 13.1 13.0 -
People living in households with
very low work intensity, %2 - 7.5 7.6 10.2
Severe material deprivation rate,
%2 - 10.7 10.6 8.8
Average disposable equivalised
household income, € per month1 558.4 582.9 581.6 - Source:
1. Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic, Regional Statistics Database
2. Data from Eurostat Database, Income and Living Conditions (ilc) Table [ilc_lvhl11, ilc_mddd11]
The above mentioned economic profile, demographic and labour force trends all indi-cate and also explain why Banská Bystricais lagging behind and usually ranked as the second poorest region of the country. Poverty measurements of course indicate similar territorial imbalances. Measurements, like people living in households with very low work intensity or severe material deprivation rate only provide information on NUTS2 level ofCentral Slovakia where the value of these indicators reaches the country average. However, NUTS2 level figures obscure the inner inequalities, namely, the more prosperous Žilina ‘compensates’ for Banská Bystrica’s unfavoura-ble positions. The average disposaunfavoura-ble income of households is the fourth lowest in Slovakia at Banská Bystrica after Nitriansky, Prešovský and Košices and that of at-risk-of-poverty rate is the second highest (after Prešov) in Slovakia. Notwithstanding that these values are not outstanding in European comparison; the severity of the problem is unquestionable due to the high spatial concentration of the phenomenon.
Comparing to other areas of the country the spatial concentration of impoverished municipalities and districts is extremely high in Banská Bystrica, particularly at the southern part of the region bordering Hungary in the town of Rimavská Sobota and its surroundings.
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